Naomi Campbell Defends Diamond Testimony

*Supermodel Naomi Campbell says she stands by her testimony at the war crimes trial of former Liberian President Charles Taylor, even though it’s been directly contradicted by two different witnesses.

Campbell testified last week at the Special Court for Sierra Leone at The Hague, Netherlands, regarding a pouch of diamonds she received in 1997. Prosecutors, who are trying to prove that Taylor used “blood diamonds” to fund a brutal civil war in Sierra Leone, allege the diamonds came from Taylor.

“I’ve no motive here. Nothing to gain,” Campbell said in a statement Wednesday. “I am a black woman who has and will always support good causes, especially relating to Africa.”

“These events took place 13 years ago, many years before Taylor’s alleged wrongdoings were known,” she added.

Campbell said she didn’t really know who Taylor was at the time she received the diamonds, since he had been elected shortly before. But on the witness stand, Campbell’s former manager Carole White and actress Mia Farrow both disputed her account.

White told the court that when Campbell met with Jeremy Ratcliffe, a trustee of the Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund, to hand over the diamonds, she told him she had received them from Taylor.

Farrow also testified that Campbell was aware of their source. She testified Monday that Campbell told the story at breakfast the next morning.

“She said that in the night she had been awakened,” Farrow testified. “Some men were knocking at the door and they had been sent by Charles Taylor and they were giving her — they had given her a huge diamond. And she said that she intended to give the diamond to Nelson Mandela’s children’s charities.”

Taylor, 62, was president of Liberia from 1997 to 2003. The war crimes charges against him stem from the widespread murder, rape and mutilation that occurred during the civil war in Sierra Leone, fought largely by teenagers who were forced to kill, given addictive drugs to provoke violent behavior and were often instructed to rape and plunder.

Taylor is charged with five counts of crimes against humanity, including murder, enslavement and sexual slavery and violence. He also faces five counts of war crimes, including acts of terrorism and torture, and one count of other serious violations of international humanitarian law. He has pleaded not guilty.

6 Responses

this is a NON story.. Why do we care?? She is right!!!!! Someone like Naomi wouldn’t have known what Taylor was doing.. You know YT would’ve kept there mouth shut, and found a way to get them stones OUT of the country. At least she left them there.. By ALL accounts, she gave them to someone for CHARITY…

I think her attitude is eff this trial. I’m just going to take the stand and blow off all their questions.
But why take the chance of perjuring yourself? She could have just said, “I assumed they came from Taylor, but I didn’t know for sure.”

In this Special Court hearing for War Crimes. She (Naomi) can’t be charged with perjury, even if they do conclude that she is not telling the truth. So girlfriend can say whatever she wants, it still her word against Mia’s and Carol’s.

Considering Charles Taylors history, I wouldn’t throw his ass under the bus either. Let them get their conviction from some other source. I wouldn’t run the risk of putting my family in danger, and that’s what she would be doing testifying against this Monster!

Well, not exactly. She can be charged with perjury, but most likely won’t.

According to legal experts, Naomi Campbell will not be charged with perjury. Not because she is not guilty of lying during her blood diamonds testimony, but simply because “they have bigger fish to fry. There’s no point in going after her. She would have to have done a lot of damage to their case to incentivize the prosecution to go after her.”

Legal sources also said there was no precedent for a minor witness being prosecuted for perjury at a war crimes trial.

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